﻿Vol. 66. ,] ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT. lix 



At one time, I was disposed to regard these gravels as fluvio-glacial, 

 and to refer them to three different glacial episodes corresponding 

 to the three several river-terraces with which they are associated • 

 it now seems possible that the}' may be all of the same age, but the 

 question can only be decided by further investigation. It is of 

 subsidiary importance, the main point in connexion with our present 

 enquiry being the supposed glacial origin of the Wolvercote deposits, 

 for underlying these Mr. Bell has discovered a very fine series of 

 beautifully worked flint-implements, which cannot be later, nor 

 very much earlier, than Mousterian in age. 



Some peat associated with the lacustrine beds has afforded plant- 

 iremains which point on the whole to a temperate climate. 



Combining the information obtained by Mr. Clement Eeid with 

 that obtained by Mr. Eell and myself, we arrive at the following 

 succession : — 



Contorted gravel Glacial episode IV. 



Wolvercote bouchers Temperate climate. 



Cold climate ? ] 



Acheulean of Hoxne Temperate climate. VGrenial episode III 



Betula-nana beds of Hoxne . Cold climate. 



Alder-beds of Hoxne Temperate climate. J 



Chalky Boulder Clay Glacial episode III. 



The supposed existence of a fourth glacial episode in these 

 islands is of considerable interest, especially as it is likely to give 

 rise to controversy ; but it is of very trivial importance, compared 

 with the certainly ascertained fact that the Acheulean l stage is 

 younger than the Chalky Boulder Clay and thus younger than the 

 severest of the glacial episodes recognized in this country and in 

 France. Thus this stage belongs to the later days of the great Ice- 

 A^e, and by far the greater part of the Pleistocene epoch is pre- 

 Acheulean. This is a fact which must be constantly borne in 

 mind when discussing the evolutional history of Man. 



Skeletal remains of Palaeolithic Man. — Human remains 

 'nave long been known from the Magdalenian stage. They afford 

 • evidence of the contemporary existence of two very different races : 

 one represented by the old man of Cro Magnon, on which much 



1 M. A. Rutot (Bull. Soc. Beige Geol. vol. xxiv, 1910, p. 89) lays great 

 -stress on the distinction between his Acheulean I and Acheulean II, and 

 regards the former as older than the Chalky Boulder Clay. A critical 

 examination of the palaeolithic implements of the Thames valley, in the light 

 of recent discoveries abroad, is greatly needed. 



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